Many government and regulatory agencies require that medical records remain private and secure. These regulations include, for example, The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rule. In addition to such rules, it is very important from a patient standpoint to maintain medical records in a secure, private and proper manner. That is, it is important to ensure that medical records such as, for example, charts, x-rays, MRIs, sonograms, and other tests and procedures be maintained in a secure environment, e.g., such that only authorized persons are able to have access to such medical records. HIPAA also describes procedures to record the disclosure of medical information.
Although the medical industry, overall, has safeguards in place to securely maintain the records, other issues are also of concern. For example, consider the very busy medical staffs schedules and time pressures, manual processes and identification of the patients and other parties that would like access to a patient's medical records, such as friends or family members. This can lead to improperly handling of information by revealing information to parties that have not been properly authorized to view the information. HIPAA defines procedures for the inavertant disclosure of medical information to which close adherence is required.